" We believe in a future in which every person can be an entrepreneur.

And we want to be his personal assistant. "

The founders of ZIP

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Vision

Individualization shapes our lives.

Traditionally, notions like duty, specialization, performance, and money used to play a primary role in our society — inherited from the Industrial Age. Economic value was centrally planned and mainly managed by large companies, with little transparency and limited regulation. Professional and private relationships have usually been stable over time.

But things change. The traditional employment biography of“education,work, wedding, kids, dead” is outdated. Nowadays, notions like freedom, multitasking, sense, and personal development dominate our lifes. Economic value arises from multiple, oftentimes small and distributed players – increasingly organized as temporary workers or subcontractors. What’s more, transparency and regulation have risen to an all new extent. And relationships? They have become less and less stable over time.

In the future, every person becomes an entrepreneur.

We believe that individualization of both private and professional life will steadily continue to increase. This is something that we neither appreciate nor criticize, but soberly perceive in a neutral state of mind. We think the best way to prepare for the future is to accept it and to systematically consider what it means for us in the present. And we want to put a particular emphasis on two theses of the professional life.

first Thesis

The Amount of Entrepreneurs Will Rise Again, Throughout All Relevant Ages.

In recent years, the number of business startups in Germany has continued to decline due to a persistently strong labor market — down to 753,000 founders in 2016. We believe that in the wake of individualisation, the share of founders will increase again — not only among the traditional working age between 20 and 65 years: the proportion of entrepreneurs between 14 and 20 years will also increase, as younger people are increasingly willing and able to start their own company; and there will also be more entrepreneurs over 65 years, as older people are increasingly willing and able to share their knowledge and experience with society, and as they are urgently needed in terms of age pyramid and skills shortages.

SECOND THESIS

Company Structures Will Become More and More Fragmented and Dynamic.

Individualization will not only affect the number of companies, but also their structures. Thus, the need for legal forms and organizational structures suitable for specific situations will increase — across all relevant age groups. Consequently, Small and flexible company structures will be increasingly required in the future. Regulation at national and international level (such as EU law) also influences this development: In Germany, for example, in 2014, master craftsmanship for the tiling trade was abolished, which led to a sharp increase in the number of companies (especially very small companies) and to many associated problems. Logically, the volume and variety of financing models for companies are also increasing.

We want to be the entrepreneurs’ personal assistant.

Thinking “backfrom the future”, we clearly underline the unconditional need to support small businesses.

Here, the ZIP Institute comes into play: as an independent and not-for-profit institution, it facilitates and empowers people all over the world to found and run their business in Germany. It reduces hurdles like administrational effort and admission fees, and provides hands-on tools to found and manage a business successfully.

ZIP Software was initiated on these fundaments, in order to develop and sell a digital personal assistant to small business owners all over the world – focusing on added value and collaboration between multiple entrepreneurs. ZIP Software ist also responsible for operations (especially for technical realization) at ZIP Institute.